Man Pleads No Contest Before Sexual Abuse Trial

NEWS IN BRIEF

TAVARES - A man set to go on trial on charges of raping three boys pleaded no contest Monday to lesser charges.

Christopher St. John, 51, of Clermont had been charged with three counts of sexual battery on a child younger than 12 and six counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child.

But on Monday, he pleaded no contest to three counts of attempted sexual battery and attempted lewd and lascivious acts. Circuit Judge T. Michael Johnson sentenced him to five years in prison and 10 years of sex-offender probation when he finishes his sentence - five years' probation if he meets a number of conditions.

He will be registered as a sex offender.

Police had said the spa and pool repairman engaged the 11-year-old boys in various sex acts in 1997.